The Secret Circle
by Shagel
Summary: Six families of hereditary witches for centuries manage a small town Arc in the north of Washington State, but now, with the return of Clarke Griffin, the sixth and the last witch, new Circle finally has to deal with threats from the outside - Witch Hunters. But the main threat comes from the inside. (Bellarke AU)
1. Something wicked this way comes

Chapter 1

Jake Griffin hurried home. In fact, not only the forthcoming storm reflected in the rearview mirror of the car made him nervous, but a strange and really bad feeling stuck somewhere in the throat like a lump, which could not be swallowed.

He seemed to be missing something, something very important, and so pressed the gas pedal to the floor anxiously, making the most mileage out of the Ford.

Quite a loud buzzing of the Iphone came somewhere from the bag, lying on the next seat to the right, then the man heard music. It was Abby. And if she called, this bad feeling tormented not only him.

Looking at the road, the man reached for the phone, switching the speakerphone on.

Outside the window came a flash of the lightning, then within a few seconds man heard the sound of thunder, that stifled Abby`s voice.

"... are you all right? Jake ?! "- his wife`s voice was distorted with line interferences, but the anxiety was heard clearly.

"Abby, I'm caught in a storm, I can`t hear you. What happened? "Without switching the turn signals on Griffin turned to the main highway, all the time looking in the mirror. At this time of night the road was completely empty, lit up by lanterns and heavy rain, and it seemed quite infernal. Big road sign to the right of the road flashed in the lights and disappeared, it said " 30 miles to Ark."

"Have no idea!" - maybe the sound of thunder faded, or it was Abby who raised her voice, but words became louder - "This storm doesn`t look normal. We checked everything several times before and after your departure, but now air echoes of someone else's magic. It is clearly not our Circle`s magic, so please be careful. Have you seen her? "

A real downpour started outside the windows, and the road disappeared under a stream of dirty water. Jake reduced the speed, although the fear of the car crash was not that crazy as the irrational one, making him running home at all the limits, and the hairs on his neck stood on end. It was less than half an hour to Arc, but weather made the ride even more complicated. And Abby`s words that someone else's magic caused this storm, were alarming.

"Yes, Clarke is fine. She asked about you, she also had these strange dreams, but at least she is not in danger there and she won`t be found. Can you track the magic? It cannot be from some other Circle, we protected Arc for hundreds of years, Circles don`t intrude without warnings or invitations. "

He could hear muffled voices of other members of the Circle in the dynamic, but one of them was louder that the other, Jake recognized Kane`s voice, repeating something vaguely familiar in the background.

His chest sank, when he realized what Marcus said.

He talked about Hunters. Those damn Hunters.

With one hand holding the handlebar man tried to reach the bag, groping crystal with trembling fingers, and this distraction was his biggest mistake.

When Jake Griffin still managed to grab a stone, another car showed on the road with headlights blinding, but he did not have time to notice it when the lightning cut the sky just striking the road, the car quickly catched up Griffin`s Ford, outrunning from the left and pushed it to the sidelines with great force. Ford swerved and rolled over several times and crashed into a tree on the right side with a deafening roar.

"Jake? Jake, what's going on ?! "loud and frightened Abby`s voice came from the mobile phone.

The car huddling Ford, stopped with a sharp brakes squeal, turning on the move, and stood nearby. Whoever was in the car, behind the dark windows, he was not in a hurry to help. He waited.

Jake gasped, regaining consciousness and squeezed a crystal in the fingers, despite of the cuts from the broken glass and bruises, the man could move. He awkwardly unbuckled seat belt with his left hand, barely moving swollen fingers, possibly broken, grabbed the phone from the floor and opened the door, tumbling out of the car in the wet grass, shuddering with pain, but still trying to crawl away, before gasoline explodes.

"Abby, listen ..." - Jake grimaced, concentrating all power in the crystal, and the pain subsided, leaving numbness in the fingers, magic ran through the entire body, filling with borrowed power, but Griffin could not fight with the fate that awaited him alone. "It's Hunters, they followed me. Listen, I need you... Tell Clarke, I love her. And I will always love her. And you."

The man crawled out to the road, standing up to his knees, helping with a broken arm, because losing the crystal doomed him to imminent death. Iphone was left somewhere in the grass, and the voice coming out of it, was muffled with thunder strikes beating one after the other, it was definitely not an ordinary storm.

Doors of a black car slammed, and two men came out of the car, one was holding a rifle, a second one, younger, held a lighted candle, covering it with a raincoat.

Jake Griffin closed his eyes, feeling the raindrops falling to his face. He was considered to be one of the best witches in the city, Griffins generation was one of the founders of the Ark, and his gift - the gift of water - around him, soaking the clothes, and pouring cold streams under the collar - was just what we needed. Crystal under man`s fingers flashed dark blue light, heating, and filling him with magic.

"You dared to attack me!" - He snarled with hatred in his voice, and water droplets began to tear off the asphalt, rising up in a completely unnatural way, older man with a rifle in his hands could protect himself, outlining a circle around him with his hand and quickly whispering something, but the second was less fortunate. Water rushed to a guy with a candle, enveloping his body with a tight slippery veil and restraining his breath. Brown streams slithered into the nose, ears, opened mouth like little snakes, and a few seconds later the witch hunter`s face was swollen and blackened, with a cyanotic shade, guy fell down shuddering and fainted.

The second hunter, not even mentioning the death of his buddy, raised the rifle, taking aim at Griffin`s head.

"Where is she?" - Anger and hatred raged in the eyes of the hunter. "Tell me where is she and I'll kill you quickly, you monster!"

"You're late." - Jake Griffin raised his hand with a crystal clenched in whitened fingers. "You will never be able to destroy my family and especially my daughter. You know the prophecy; their Circle is destined to be the strongest ever. "

In response, the hunter has shot all ten bullets in Griffin`s head. Flattened pieces of metal fell on both sides of the man`s head with a loud noise, but they could not hit the target.

Triumph flashed in Jake`s eyes of Jake, until he noticed a burnt match in hunter`s fingers hand. All these shots could not kill him, but weakened as well as an accident and now he was destined to be burned alive, like other witches hundred years ago.

"I'll find your daughter, your family, and I will destroy your Circle, one after another, like all the creatures that stand on my way." The match fell down and cold blue flame crawled on Griffin`s body, burning to death. Loud screams were still heard over the deafening thunder as well as the screams from the mobile phone, still switched on the speakerphone, lying in the grass, and a few seconds later everything was over.

The man dragged the dead body of his partner to the charred remains of Jake Griffin, and set fire to it, then shot the engine of the Ford stuck in a tree, an explosion came, and in a couple of minutes there was no one on the road except two corpses and a burning car.

Abby Griffin, lost consciousness, was lying on her back on the floor of the home, the other members of her Circle, bleeding from mouths fell down beside her. All pain taken to a witch in a Circle was echoed to the others, and with the death of one of them, Circle lost some part of their power.

"Jake is dead!" - wheezed shocked Thelonious Jaha, grabbing his heart. "We have to find Clarke as soon as possible to protect her. We must. We have to protect new Circle."

A few hundred miles far from the accident Clarke Griffin got up in her bed with a loud cry, gasping and panting from the imaginary flames scorching her body. She shook with tears, staring at the wall:

"Dad ..."

She knew that her father is dead. And now they will come for her.


	2. Before the storm begins

Chapter 2

When a few minutes later the phone rang in the next room that served as the living room for three girls Clarke was already rushing through the house, frantically throwing one thing after another in the open bags. Crumpled blouses, jeans, skirts, jewelry, notes and some photos in simple frames, girl decided to leave almost all the shoes to her friends and travel light. The faster she gets to the Ark, the better.

"Clarke, it's your mother." - A sleepy face of her friend appeared in the doorway. - "And she has a very frightened voice. Did something happen? Why are you packing your bags? "

"I'm leaving, Tali." - Clarke finally stuffed blue jacket in a suitcase, zipped sharply and stood up, reaching for the phone. "Mom, it's me. What's wrong with Dad? "

The girl's face became pale gray, from the phone she could hear only quick convulsive sobs and undistinguished words, and then with a loud breath, Clarke sank to the floor, biting her lower lip until it became white.

"Hey ..." - another girl came into the room and stood near Tali." You serious?! We got a final test tomorrow, couldn`t you be a little bit quieter, it`s 4 a.m. already. "- She stopped her blaming speech, looking at Griffin.

"I`ll miss the test. All tests I suppose. "- Clarke's voice faltered, and the girl stood up lurching. Then she started talking to her mother, using some unknown language, quickly and abruptly; still holding the cellphone with the shoulder, Clarke dragged the suitcase and two small bags to the house exit.

"What happened?" - Tali could not wait anymore, looking at her friend anxiously.

"My father died. I have to go home to deal with everything. "

"Oh my God, that`s horrible, but Clarke... the studies and the documents ..."

I do not have time. I`ll ask to send them by mail. "- Despite of her trembling voice, Clarke seemed unnaturally calm, she opened the trunk of the car and shoved all the things quickly, then turned to the girls. "Take care of yourself; I'll call you in the morning. And ... I'm not going back. I`m so sorry. Say buy to everybody for me."

She sat to the driver`s seat and started the engine, for a couple of seconds she was looking at a photograph, pressed to the glass inside of the car, all four of their family are smiling, happy and alive, - girl wiped tears from her cheeks with a shudder and pressed gas pedal to the floor, leaving her friends standing in the lantern light and illuminated house she will never return to far behind.

At the crossroads, standing at a red light, Clarke surrendered and slammed the steering wheel with all the force she was capable of and cried aloud; little drops of water, speckled the car roof after the rain, started gathering into streams and lifting up at some unnatural angle from the sound of girl`s voice, trembling and flickering, they hang up in the air and then scattered on both sides of the road.

Aurora Blake, still a very beautiful woman, about her 40, but now deathly pale and covered with blood, dried streams of it descended from the ears down to the neck, leaned against the door jamb in front of her house. She had no strength enough to knock and breathlessly waited for the pain to subside.

The door swung open with force, and her son appeared, sleepy and messy, in only pajama pants, he ruffled his hair anxiously, and then called out, "Mom?" - He grabbed her up and almost dragged in the house because woman could barely stand on her feet.

"Bellamy" - said Aurora coughing, - "We have to hide Octavia! Do you hear me?! Where is she?"

"I'm here, what`s wrong again?" - Light footsteps came from the darkened hall of the first floor and short dark-haired girl appeared. She seemed to be about 16, and was rather angry.

"Octavia, immediately go down! Right now, and don`t leave the basement until I let you! "- Panic filled Aurora`s voice, and therefore the girl snorted, but obeyed and left.

"Mom, what happened?!" - Bellamy helped his mother to sit on the couch of the hall, disappeared into the kitchen, then returned with a wet towel, and knelt beside, wiping the blood off her face.

"Hunters, they found Jake Griffin and killed him. We knew it was dangerous to leave Ark, a fortiori alone, and now when they killed one of our Circle, nothing will stop them from exterminating everyone. "

Bellamy breathed, wrinkling his nose, and cogitated.

Thanks to Jaha`s Circle, watching over the Ark, the city was kept away from prying eyes. First of all, it was surrounded by forests of Washington State, and road signs could be seen right near the town`s entry, so to avoid curious tourists. Secondly, the city was under a strong defensing barrier and gave no possibility to trace the magic outside Ark. Third; the magic of the town was not a topic for everyday talks. It was something took for granted, but only within a close circle of the six families, for the rest people in Ark - it was like a fairy tale, harmless local legend.

"They used him as bait to get to his daughter, and they`ll follow her here, am I right?" - Tall guy clenched his fists and hit the floor with anger. "And now, because of that stupid girl, Hunters will come for Octavia as well?"

Aurora wiped face with the towel:

"We can only hope that Griffin`s child has enough brains to hide her powers until she gets here. You have to admit her to your Circle, do you understand that? Alone, she is uncontrollable. "

Somewhere in the back of the house, in the basement came long thunder strikes, beating one after another. Obviously, Octavia was in a bad mood.

"Not more than Octavia, really."

Bellamy sighed, got to his feet, escorting his mother upstairs to her bedroom, then grabbed an old T-shirt from his bed and went down to the basement. Now he had to calm down his angry little sister too.

That night another one house on that street was bright-lit; next to Griffins, almost identical, except for a different color of tiles and flowerbeds, black shadows were moving behind the curtains.

The Circle made sure that Abby is more or less okay, although they all were far from being okay, and other 5 families had to get outside Ark to check the totem pillars. These totems protected the town for centuries already. Marcus phoned Greens, Jordan and Blake, glanced at the pillar once more and turned his car home.

Several hundred years ago another Circle had enough power to put this spell functioning as an invisible network stuck to six pillars that were digged at the settlement borderlines. The protection would weaken, if the Hunters destroy just one totem. Then magic tracks could leek through the barriers, attracting unavoidable attention. But fortunately, Hunters had to destroy at least three totems to break the spell completely, that`s why six founder families took care of them. And now, while Abby was too weak, Marcus had to take care of Griffins pillar being the nearest neighbor.

Fortunately the previous Circle managed to hide these quite high and unusual pillars decorated with carved symbols with dozens of road signs nailed to a tree. Who could ever imagine these dreadful pillars, dazzling with multi-colored neon letters, being really important?

Kane`s house looked like a bright shining lantern in the darkness, and a young guy was sitting at the kitchen fully dressed, as if it was not a bedtime. He had a haggard face, messy shoulder-length dark hair and totally lacked of sleep.

"What the hell are you doing here? Go to sleep. "- Marcus waved his hand, dropped into a chair at the kitchen table and poured some whiskey, without ice. The desire to sip straight from the bottle became stronger.

Finn looked at the glass, but said nothing.

Marcus Kane was over forty, but still unmarried. According to the rules the Circle demanded the heirs of each founder's family to create their own Circle, and so Marcus had to take care of forty-second cousin of his sister. Thanks gods Finn Collins was not a complete idiot and quite a good witch.

Although Marcus has never been good at dealing with the teenagers.

"Griffin`s daughter is coming to town, yeah? Even if it`s the last thing she has to do? "

"Worthless plan, but yes. The only positive moment is that you can finally make your own Circle. Without all six members you cannot wield real power. "

Loud noise of an approaching car came from the street, and yellow light filled the window frames.

Marcus knew it was Clarke. She was the daughter of her mother, not hiding from threats and a brave girl. She came to revenge on her father`s death even if it was dangerous.

Finn went to the window, watching as slim blonde girl pulled things out of the car trunk, and disappeared behind the neighbor's door.

"Listen to me, Finn ..." - began Kane, swallowing whiskey - "My Circle takes care of Ark for about twenty years, but it won`t be forever, and there is something you should know. D`you know why Clarke was taken out of Ark at the age of 5? "

"I thought it was because her younger sister died, and parents sent the elder daughter to some far relatives, because there were children of her age."

"Nah, it's not that easy." - Marcus winced. - "It was all about the fucking prophecy. A female witch shall become the Head of your Circle and rule it. "

"But Bellamy is the leader now, he is the strongest of us ..." - Finn interrupted him, turning away from the window in surprise.

"Has been. Yet. This female witch shall have not only her own power, but of all the previous generations. All generations. That`s inevitable. See what I mean? "

"That's why Hunters are after her. They killed the youngest girl in Griffin family to prevent it. "

"Now the entire fucking Circle is in danger. Pillars shall protect us from the outside, but you must be careful. Extremely cautious. Because if I'm right, hunters will try to get into Ark by any means possible. "

"Bellamy?" - Finn held the mobile phone close to his ear, standing in front of the window that was located just in front of the window of a neighbor house and watched as sad, but very beautiful blonde pushed her suitcase and bags under the bed without even examining them, and then fell on the bed undressed. The lights went out.

"Fuck, you know what time is it?!" - Although it was almost morning, Bellamy's voice was not sleepy. Loud clicks of the lighter were heard somewhere on the background. Apparently he was completely pissed-off now. Bellamy and his lighter. Ugh, he didn`t even smoke.

"She is here,» - said Finn watching dark window of his neighbor.

"What? The hell are you talking about? And so what? "

"Marcus said she is going to be the next head of the Circle."

Various swearing and curses came from the phone, and Bellamy switched off.

At least one person was clearly against Clarke Griffin`s returning home.

And it certainly added even more problems in their already fucked up lives.


	3. Precious things

Chapter 3.

Clarke opened her eyes. She felt pain as if someone has poured a handful of sand under the eyelids; the back ached of uncomfortable sleep. The girl sat awkwardly, moving the blanket down to the feet, and started massaging her neck. Just perfect, she fell to sleep fully dressed. There is a first time for everything.

"Mooom?" - She called, listening to the sounds in the house. Something should have woken her, but now she heard nothing but the silence.

Clarke put on her old slippers, left the bedroom and went downstairs. The silence was broken by sound of black vintage grandfather clock in the living room only. The arrows showed almost eight p.m. although Clarke could swear that she had slept for two hours not more. Passing the mirror, she looked at her reflection and winced. Her rather dishelved blonde locks were tangled and stuck out of a braid, a trace of a pillow imprinted on her right cheek, and the worst of all was her crumpled clothing.

"My eyes gonna bleed, really! You`re a mess, girl." - She ran a hand through her hair, trying to smooth tangled mop, but the reflection showed her the same horror-story girl with big grey eyes and a mournful look.

Clarke found a small bottle of some blue potion on the kitchen table, next to a glass of clean water, it was some of the Abby`s headache medicine for sure, and a note that said:

"Went to Founders meeting. Dinner is in the fridge. I'll be late. Kisses, Mom.

PS: Drink the potion. Kills headaches.

PPS: Wells promised to drop in by 10 to make sure everything is OK. "

That potion really helped. And a hot bath helped even more.

When Clarke left the bathroom, trying to soak wet hair with a towel, the clock showed nine, and dusk was falling rapidly.

The house was dipping into darkness, becoming rather creepy and frightening for her alone, so Clarke quickly went upstairs, almost ran into her room and shut the door, leaning against it from the inside.

She looked up and shivered. The door was located directly in front of the window that was open, and now there she could see a dark figure in the opposite window. Guy and that obviously was a guy, not very tall but square-built, with a mop of shaggy hair reaching the shoulders, stood staring at her. There was an utterly indescribable expression, a mixture of surprise and admiration and stun on his face.

"Oh well, just what I really needed now. The guy next door, just great. "- Clarke moaned and recalled that she had a towel covering the very strategically important parts of the body only.

She could try to use magic to draw the curtains if she could concentrate, but this very moment the concentration was absolutely no good, and therefore, holding a towel to her chest tight, to prevent from slipping down, she went to the window, quickly drew the curtains and exhaled with relief. Then turned round searching for any bathrobe in the wardrobe.

"This is the definitely the worst day of my life." - She whined because it came to her that the right bag with personal belongings, underwear in particular, was left in the car. Then a reflection of the open window flashed in the mirror next to the wardrobe. Heavy curtains hung on both sides of the frame, as if she hadn`t closed them a few seconds ago.

"Seriously?!" - Clarke turned, willing to punch this unknown guy`s head for such jokes, and the towel slipped down to her waist. Fortunately, that guy-in-the-window was no longer there, so girl picked up her towel and drew the curtains again, grabbing them as if they were to blame for this awkward situation.

She really didn`t want to stay in the house alone, without anybody it seemed empty and uninhabited. So at ten p.m. her hair was dried and more or less set in order, in old clothes, but at least clean, Clarke was sitting on the steps in front of the house with her sketchbook in hands and drawing something light-headedly. That was the best cure from an endless stream of sad thoughts. Immersed in the drawing, she couldn`t heard the steps, until Wells landed next to her with a loud sigh. He put his arm around her shoulders and handed a package with warm donuts.

"Such a powerful witch and afraid of ghosts? Do not tell me you just wanted to go out and draw in darkness. "- He winked and pulled a flashlight from his pocket, switched it on and turned the ray of light to his face at the same time making a boogie look.

Wells has always been the best of her friends. They knew each other from when… from childhood? Clarke remembered times they used to play in a sandbox, and Wells ate the soil she had brought him, mistaking for chocolate cake. They built huts made of branches, conjured rainbows and hid caught fireflies under the pillows. And he saved her once when Bellamy set fire to her clothes. They were four years old, and Bellamy twice older. Surely this damn pyromaniac still hadn`t learned to control his temper.

Only Wells all these years intercommunicated with her, distance could not spoil their friendship at all.

"You saved me from starving, honestly." - Clarke smiled and nibbled her donut. She had left the house without eating.

"Wait a minute!" - Wells got up the stairs, quickly ran into the house and returned some minutes later with two mugs of steaming coffee. "I am not so easily scared. So, you're back for good? "

"Yes, I wanted it, though Mom was against it." - Girl nodded, reaching for the coffee. "I had to change the college in the middle of the year, can you imagine? Thanks god, your father runs the show in Ark. I`d kill myself if I had to enchant the headmaster. "

"Well, yeah, I do remember how you tried to erase my memory, and I forgot how to pronounce my name for two weeks."

They both laughed. It was good to sit like this.

"Clarke," - the voice of Wells became serious. "We will find your father`s killers, I promise. The Circle won`t leave it just like that, and we are not afraid of them, too. "

"We - meaning your own Circle?"

"He's ours. It's yours, too. "

"I'm sorry, Wells, but me and the magic ..." - Clarke broke off, not knowing what to say. "It`s not that simple. I didn`t admire magic, like some. "

"Like Bellamy." – Wells corrected her.

"Like all of you. It is so simple for you, like an everyday stuff and I ... All this time I lived with normal people. "

"It`s true and you're almost convinced me, Clarke Griffin. But I really know that you've never been like that normal people. Especially since that incident with Bellamy. "

"Oh yes," - snorted girl - "Is he the same asshole?"

"Worse." - Wells stood up, stretching his stiffened legs and looked at the approaching car with Marcus Kane and Abby Griffin inside. "You have the biggest chance to see that with your own eyes tomorrow. Well, my watch is over, I`ll pass it to your mother. See you at lessons. "- He waved goodbye and left.

"Great, really. How could I think that today was the worst day of my life? Surely tomorrow will be worse. Much worse. "- Clarke also got to her feet, following Abby in the house.

According to the traditions Circle had its regular meetings in the basement of the City Hall, in town center.

However, none of the adults could really imagine that the same time another Circle takes place. This Circle consisted of their children and gathered in an old abandoned house on the outskirts of Ark.

Bellamy suggested this idea after one accident when they had nearly destroyed Monty`s house during one of the experiments. And now he was lounging in an old wooden chair, with his feet up on one armrest and felt the second one digs in his back, and gave his most gloomy look to Monty. Asian was cutting mandrake roots enthusiastically and humming something together with the music in his hefty orange headphones.

"Well, what`s up with your long face?" - Finn entered the room, took a bicycle helmet off and threw it on the sofa in the corner of the room, hitting the sleeping Jasper on the back. "Is it a funeral party?."

Jasper jumped on the couch:

"Hey, vent your spleen on Bellamy, please. Wait for a little bit - and he`ll definitely fall down in the depths of hell with his chair. "

Finn looked at the old house, with its rotten floorboards, boarded up windows and holes in the walls:

Oh really? It seems to me, he doesn`t even have to fall. "

"Fuck off, Collins!" Bellamy pulled out his old cigarette lighter and started opening and closing iron lid with loud clicks and looked at the window sullenly. The window was half boarded up, so he could see nothing but darkness there.

Jasper reached out and sat up:

"Well, we're still could not find anything, mainly because of your and Wells` absence. What can the three of us do, really? So tell me why do I have to hang around here, in the company of absolute dontgiveafucker stuck to his flowers, and the king of killing glances?

"Wells was with Clarke, when I was leaving," - Finn picked up a page from some spell book and started examining it. "They were drinking coffee."

"Oh really, how sweet it was of him!" – Bellamy`s glance was impenetrable, but the clicking became louder.

"And I had to stay in the bar. Today they were there. "

Finn meant the Circle. Another great place for meetings, as well as the basement of City Hall, was a boat belonged to Marcus Kane. Or his bar at the pier.

"Did you find something?"

"Are you kidding? They`ll kill me if I happen to stand near the boat and try to eavesdrop. But, in general, I`ve got something. They were talking about the magic traces. It can track the Hunter who killed Griffin, but not surely, and then they found me. These traces are revealed by a spell of the Book of Shadows. "

"So, we need the Book of Shadows." - Said Bellamy.

"Whoa, slow down, man, I'm sure and Wells will agree with me, that we should not get involved in it. Let our parents deal with it; they are older and stronger – to begin with. And secondly, we have not even bonded our Circle, all we can do is boogie the girls with slamming the doors and making the glasses burst in other`s hands. "

"In fact, Monty freezed water, and it came by accident that the glass broke," - wedged Jasper.

"You see, we cannot even control it, and you're going to follow the Hunters? And then what? Set their hair on fire? Okay, I wash my hands of this, do what you want and I'm going home. "- Finn raised his hands in surrender. "It's high time, if we don`t want to cause unnecessary suspicions."

"Yeah, my old man did three long as hell lectures of the use of magic for personal purposes only as a last resort, so spare me from another." - Jasper raised his backpack from the floor. "Does anybody need a lift?" His old Wrangler could take them all, even Finn with his bicycle. - "And somebody please kick Monty, he seems to be lost in another reality."

"I won`t give up," - Bellamy stood up, reaching for a black motorcycle helmet hanging on a hook. "With that Griffin or not. Let`s meet here tomorrow after college. I`ll bring the Book. "

"Bellamy .." - Finn began, but then shook his head, slammed Jasper and Monty on their shoulders ready to leave. "See you tomorrow, nerds. Hope you won`t fail economy test. "

Those two howled together as one. The economy was the most difficult subject of the course, and that damn charts frighten them even more than all the Hunters of the world.

Bellamy killed the engine and got off the bike, looking up. His mother`s room was lit, so he had to distract her to get that Book of Shadows. And Octavia could help with that.

Each of the Founder families kept their own Books of Shadows with the most difficult spells, family history and other important things. Aurora retained Blake`s family Book, and she would never give it to her son now. But she could not know that he used to read it in her absence and even copied some of the spells. That spells now were at boys` secret shelter, where Bellamy could practice them to become more powerful.

But even without this little book in the black cover Bellamy Blake was one of the strongest young witches in Ark. His magic was uncontrolled and spontaneous, because his Circle was not united, but even now he was not afraid. He could not be afraid. Fear has always led to defeat.

Therefore he raised his chin and wrinkled nose, like he always did when worried about something, and went to the back door. He would do everything for his family`s sake.

Clarke checked her clothes for the tenth time and sighed. It seems that tomorrow she had to go shopping.

She heard a loud noise on the street and went to the window and looked out from behind the curtains. That guy-in-the-window was climbing up the ivy branches to his room on the second floor. He wouldn`t notice her being rather busy not making any noises, so Clarke could continue examining him. The guy climbed slowly but skillfully, apparently, this method of entering was quite routine to him, and the most amazing thing was that sometimes he set his foot in the air, as if there were some invisible stairs. That was funny.

Clarke crossed her arms and could not resist but calling him:

"Hey, Spacewalker, got some problems with the doors?"

The guy spun around from the sound of her voice and smiled:

"Oh ... hi there ..." – at last his hand reached the still and he was about to climb inside, but then something unexpected happened.

Clarke narrowed eyes and suddenly wooden still covered with ice. Of course his fingers slipped, letting go the windowsill, and the guy fell down entangled in the ivy and hung above the ground.

The girl laughed loudly, she avenged for his pry at least.

This time when climbing up guy watched his every step, and finally sat with his feet on the still:

"Was that an assassination attempt? Nicely done, Princess. I`m Finn, by the way. I`m your neighbor and the guy next door, or should we say – next window. "

Princess? Hey, I'm not a princess. "- Clarke retorted indignantly, then broke off, watching him pointing out at her T-shirt. Big black letters said – Keep calm and be a princess. Moreover there was a small crown on top of the statement. Clarke hated herself for forgetting to get rid of that old T-shirt.- "Jeez, that`s ridiculous. Do not call me that, I`m Clarke. "

"Whatever you say, Princess." Finn grinned and winked, slipping from the still into the room. "And don`t you dare to enchant my window, Princess, or I avenge. "

The guy waved, and a light gust of wind came to Clarke and pulled her hair.

It was so funny that she could not even get angry.

Clarke has been living among ordinary people for about 10 years, forbidding herself even to think about magic. But it was always some part of her, same common as, for example, the sense of sight or smell. And now she could finally accept it. The fact that she was different, as Wells said. The fact that she has always been different. And that was fine.

Clarke turned off the light and went to bed, staring at the ceiling. Dozens of tiny sparkles were slowly falling down and disappearing in the darkness. They looked like enchanted stars. All of a sudden she remembered her father sitting near her and reading those fairytales when she was little.

"I miss you, Dad. I miss you so mush." – She closed her eyes, sliding into a quiet dream.


	4. Show me your teeth

**Chapter 4. Show me your teeth**

Life is impermanent, you know. People around, relationships and places – they are changing every day, but there are some constants, which are going to follow you even in your next life.

This new college was such a thing. Everything was repeating again - surprised and curious looks on the sly, a new list of books, a locker with a broken lock, and tangled system of offices location, is was so easy to get lost there without a map.

But it was not so bad at all. Clarke managed to get in time to class without getting lost mainly thanks to her funny neighbor next window. She followed his bicycle right to the building. And he even waved her at the crossroads as if they were the best buddies for eternity.

Everything was completely different in a small town. People seemed to know each other, greeting by name, there were only a couple of streets with rather big shopping malls and a lot of people were walking at the pier, mainly because of the good weather. So now Clarke was sitting at the last row during the lecture with a textbook in hands and could not concentrate on the subject. All her attention was drawn to the teenagers gathered together under a tree near building. They were discussing something enthusiastically and pulling a book from each other`s hands sitting with their feet on the bench. Wells was among them and her neighbor as well. Up from here they looked like some carefree children satisfied with the fact that the good weather is a sufficient reason for truancy.

"Miss Griffin?" - The teacher called her, and she shuddered, bringing herself back to the lecture. "Come to me after the lesson, I'll give you a list of the literature, but I suppose you should have had it at your college."

In general, the fact of a student transferring from one college to another was not something out of the ordinary. Ark was quite a small town. Only two hospitals, one public library, one school and one college, for those who didn`t want to leave their hometown, or could not. The Founders families could not.

All Griffins were in Seattle that day when her younger sister was killed. After that, her parents spent almost twenty years not leaving Ark; Clarke's father visited her sometimes. On a rare occasions, once a year, on her birthday day.

Clarke has always loved her father most. He was the one who taught her to ride a bike and swim, he read bedtime stories, and they even went hiking. And now after his death Clarke really didn`t know how to communicate with her mother. Abigail Griffin always kept herself to herself, and this fact didn't make life any easier.

The list of references was not really new, she had read almost all of the books earlier, and a couple of unknown ones could be found in the library.

There was only one lesson left in the schedule – Clarke chose Drawing as the additional subject – and then she was free to go shopping, especially since the weather was just perfect for a walk.

She went to her locker and pulled the lock. It didn`t open. Again. She had an uncontrollable urge to destroy this damn lock with a hammer for the whole morning.

"Oh, come on, really!" Clarke leaned to the side to grab the lock, and two books slipped down from the pile and fell down on the feet.

On men`s feet. Clarke stared at big men`s hiking boots and took a look at their owner. It happened to be her omnipresent neighbor.

"Now I do believe that you wanna kill me," - he smiled. He turned out to be rather handsome nearby, with absolutely stunning dark eyes, green with brown speckles, round face and his smile was a little bit crooked but sincere. He was radiating happiness.

"Oh, I`m sorry, I didn`t want to," - Clarke tried to straighten up, and then another book began to slide down quickly and landed on the same Finn`s foot.

"Yeah, I can see that." - He picked up the books, holding them in his hands. "Well, how`s your first day?" - He ran the hand through his hair, tousling it even more. He wanted her to like him obviously. Frankly speaking, Clarke was already into him, especially after his yesterday's fall, she always liked guys like him, open, funny and a bit awkward, but he was… too pushy? for a second day of their friendship.

Clarke pulled the lock once more, she definitely didn`t want to give up, because she had to leave all the books here and take some drawing stuff, but on the other hand this whole situation with a broken lock and a very attractive guy next to her was some kind of awkward.

"Well, the day is not over yet. So you can ask me later…"

"By the way, about the day... Wanna come to the bar on the pier? We hang up there after the studies, I'm sure you'll like it. "

"We – you mean your Circle, right?" What the hell was with that lock really, as if it wanted to mock her.

"Well, yeah, but I invite you. I work in a bar, so I can treat you today with something unusual. "

Clarke nodded, knowing that she would definitely be there. Somehow his bubbling happiness seemed to infect her as well. Maybe today was not such a bad day (if it were not for that stupid locker!), and a good company for the rest of it would be just great.

"And by the way," - Finn winked at her and narrowed his eyes on the lock; something clicked loudly, and now this lock easily opened when Clarke pulled it. "You can always count on me, if you need anything, Princess. I am always happy to save damsels in distress. "

Clarke grabbed her books from his hands and stuffed them into the locker:

"You wish, Spacewalker." - And shooed him away, before her classes started.

In general, by now everything could count as success.

Clarke loved to draw. As long as she could remember, her hands started drawing something on napkins, notebook pages, even in books when she wanted to free her mind from thoughts. Drawing was like pure inspiration, and often when some abstract patterns and swirls arised under a pencil or a brush, she could stare at them for eternity.

But now the picture was really different.

"Clarke. Clarke! Miss Griffin. "- Clarke woke up and felt somebody is touching her shoulder. "Is everything all right? " – girl looked at her teacher and saw concern in the eyes. "You`ve been sitting like that for a long time, are you OK?"

Clarke has already opened her mouth, but stopped, looking at her drawing standing in front of her.

Today, they were painting flowers. White and violet brunches of lilac in the glass, nothing really complicated. But there were no lilac or a glass at Clarke`s picture. The canvas was covered with a network of patterns, depicting the tangled branches of a tree, and there was some strange round talisman in the center, covered with symbols.

She did not remember for how long and why she was drawing that. Her memory was empty, as if it collapsed.

"Excuse me, I feel faint ..." - Clarke started taking her picture off the easel. "Can I finish it next time?"

"Yes, it`s because of the stuffiness, I suppose, it`s so hot today. You`re sure you`ll get home safely? "

"Yes, of course." - Clarke nodded absent-minded. This unusual tree with a talisman in the middle caught the whole attention. It seemed vaguely familiar. As if she had seen it somewhere before.

"What are you really? " – She whispered.

Clarke could not find any mention of the symbols on the talisman in the public library, but the hope to find something there has already been quite vague. The tree was similar to some depictions of trees in Celtic, Norse and even New Zealand mythology. Dead End. There was only one option. Ask Wells. He was a great fan of symbolic.

And that why Clarke drove her car to the pier with her picture and a pile of additional copies of these symbols.

There was a big chance that this picture meant nothing, just emotions mixed with a common fatigue, but so far she didn`t believe in it. She had never dropped out of reality, drawing something, and this situation worried her.

Clarke killed the engine and looked at herself in the rearview mirror. Fast jogging shopping did a good job for her appearance. Haste blush appeared on the cheeks, her hair curled like a golden cloud above the head, new turquoise top and dark jeans were a perfect match. And even if it could not be considered as a date, still she will definitely impress her neighbor.

"Excellent." - Clarke smoothed her hair for the last time and reached to open the car door, when the latch fell down suddenly, blocking the exits, and her practically brand new Chevrolet flamed up in the front.

The cabin filled with smoke, and Clarke started coughing pulling on the door with force, but could not get out.

"Hey!" - She knocked the glass in panic. "Somebody let me out!"

Flames ripped out from under the cowl, and it won`t take long till the car explode.

"Somebody!" – She could see nothing through thick smoke, and then somebody`s hands pressed to the glass from the outside, then tried to open stuck door. Clarke tried not to succumb to panic, but lost her courage completely. She imagined the flame on her clothing and yelled, realizing that she was going to faint.

The man behind the window pulled the door stronger, and now Clarke could see who it was. She tried not to look away from Finn`s very frightened dark eyes in order not to faint.

"Finn ..." - she coughed and pressed hands against the glass.

Bellamy Blake has always taken care of his sister throughout his life. Since Octavia`s birth he repeated the only one important rule in his life - my sister, my responsibility. His mother made him promise that he will always care about Octavia in the first place, and only then about himself. And so he did.

Octavia was a willful, capricious and stubborn, intractable girl with bad temper, sometimes Bellamy thought that Octavia was him, but in a girl`s body.

He spent many nights in that damn basement sitting near Octavia and describing all the places in Ark she would like to see. He told her about the sunsets and the feel of cold water behind the boat, about all the happiness when you fly on a bike on an empty road. He would definitely exchange places with her if it was possible. Octavia was bound to the basement. He was bound to her. And now, with a possible threat of the Hunters, his anxiety eventually turned into a panic, making him lose his head.

No matter how Aurora Blake cared about her children, she would never give him the Book of Shadows. It was useless to ask her. And he failed to steal that book last night, too.

So now he was standing on the pier in the shadow of the bar`s roof leaning against the wall and stared at the lake gloomily.

There was another Book of Shadows at Finn`s, or it was true to say that it belonged to Marcus Kane, but Finn had at least some chance to steal it. Jasper's father was the head of Ark`s police department, and their Book was definitely in a safe under five locks. Monty`s parents were both witches and often practiced witchcraft, so their Book was always at hand. As for Wells, this good boy would never think of stealing it.

They could not make spells without a Book. And without a spell he was completely unarmed to the impending threat. Another blind spot in his plan was a chaotic nightmare called Clarke Griffin. The same Clarke Griffin, whose dress he once set on fire in childhood. She was too smart and bossy for her five years, and she pissed him off.

Although he had not seen her for more than ten years, only briefly and from afar in the corridor of college today, he still could not overcome the feeling of approaching hatred for her. She was to blame for the fact that they had to hide Octavia in the basement for fifteen years. Well, technically, it was not her fault, but prophecy`s. This fucking prophecy also said that Clarke destined to become the strongest witch for a few hundred years, and bite him he would never give his throne to that Griffin girl.

He was strong. He practiced spells, but the elemental magic was his favorite one. Uncontrolled and fierce. As well as his temper. He could not fully control it until they make their full Circle. But it suited him. His had his throne and the position of leader in his Circle.

So he definitely hated Clarke Griffin.

When her car stopped near the bar, Bellamy was not that happy as Monty and Jasper standing next to him.

"Here is the sixth of our Circle at last, and imagine it`s a girl. We will have a girl in the Circle! "- Jasper said with admiration," What if she is stronger than Bellamy? "

Monty`s glance begged him to keep silence, but it was Bellamy who could not remain silent.

"Shut up, Jasper. This is nonsense. How can some girl be stronger than me? "

"Are you so afraid she will take your throne?"

"You better shut the fuck up!" - He said in a threatening voice. The whole fucking stuff accumulated, the fear for Octavia, small hassles with Finn about their plans, the fail with sneaking the Book, and now came Jasper, who impugned his position of a leader. It all stuck in the throat like a lump of hatred. Bellamy turned around searching for Finn`s presence, because Finn would never approve his actions, and narrowed his eyes, pulled a lighter from the pocket and lit it:

"Then let's see how strong she is."

As a rule witches use spells and potions. Sometimes they have to draw symbols on the floor, light the candles and even make sacrifices. But elemental magic did not work like that. It was not bound to some actions. Owner`s emotions could fuel it, increasing the capacity. And that was the very case.

Bellamy focused on lighter`s flame, transferring it to Griffin`s car mentally, and in a moment the car burst into flame.

"Whoa, whoa, Bellamy, what the hell are you doing?!" - Jasper twitched. Monty was no longer nearby; apparently he went to search for Finn. "Fuck, stop it, she will burn!"

"She's a witch. She will easily choke the fire if she`s that cool. "

Flames flared up under the cowl, the car was full of smoke, and they saw only a vague silhouette of a girl, who was trying to open the door.

"Stop it, Bellamy!" - Jasper grabbed his arm and shook like a madman.

Whirlwind swept past when Finn ran out of the bar with a towel on his shoulder. In a moment he was trying to get Clarke out of a burning car. At this time, all holiday-makers were on the other side of the pier or at the bar, so no one came to help.

Finn turned toward Bellamy and shouted:

"Stop it!" - Then again jerked the door, pounding on the glass, then stopped, and reached out his hand to the fire, whispering something.

Flame instantly extinguished, and Finn pulled already opened door and dragged coughing Clarke out.

Her blond hair flashed golden in the light of the sun, and the face was ashen. Finn led her to the bar, holding the girl's shoulders, overshadowing from Bellamy. The whole ocean of condemnation was in his eyes.

Jasper looked at Bellamy with the same expression on the face.

"What?" - Bellamy said irritably. "We wanted to know her strength."

Are we? It was you - Bellamy. And you`re a fucking moron. "- Jasper disappeared into the bar to comfort Clarke.

For a moment Bellamy felt something like remorse. Just for a moment. Damn. If these assholes were not going to help him, dancing around this girl as if she was some kind of a princess, then he was not going to participate in this shit.

Clarke was sitting at a bar stand, pressing a wet towel to the forehead, and looking at a big mug of iced tea in front of her. The tea was good, especially for her sore throat damaged by smoke. Finn brought it and a towel as well from the back room. And now he was examining her with a worried expression on his face.

Two guys were sitting on both sides of her stool, one was tall and very thin, and he was wearing scruffy hoodie with a red hood and Goggles on top of his head, the second lower, silent Asian wore something dark blue.

Clarke didn`t even wanted to look at his clothes. She had unbearable headache because of the smoke and couldn`t concentrate.

"That definitely was not an ordinary fire, huh?" - She looked at Finn; he opened his mouth, but said nothing. "So it was Bellamy. Bellamy, of course, how could I forget about him."- She breathed through the teeth. "You called me here just to see how he roasts me in my car?"

"No!" - Finn dropped a glass on the bar stand nervously, and all the visitors turned to them. "No, I didn`t want it to happen, I was in the bar ..."

The guy on the left nodded. Clarke recognized him, it was Jasper. The son of Zachary Jordan, the chief of Ark`s police. "I tried to stop Bellamy, but this moron gone nuts. Finn has nothing to do with him, honestly. "

"Yeah, what a relief."

Clarke didn`t even want to imagine what she looks like now. But obviously not the way she wanted to. She began combing hair with the fingers nervously.

"Where can I find Wells? I thought he would be here, with you."- When she calmed down, she could remember why she came here. Except for to the plan of showing off on front of Finn.

"He`s in our old house," - said Monty. "We hang out there sometimes. Headquarters and all that stuff. We can go there as soon as Finn closes the bar. "

"You want Bellamy to finish me off? I`d rather skip that part. "- Clarke finished her tea, feeling cool chill in the throat.

"No." - Finn said firmly and put down the glass, left the bar stand and started to close the bar. "I want him to apologize."

Clarke Griffin was not afraid of anyone in her life. And especially she would not be frightened of some Bellamy Blake. Who set her car on fire. Who screwed up her not_a_date.

She was not going to kill him. Or argue with him. She even did not like the idea of entering their Circle. But that was too much. Even for her.

"Fine. I`m with you."


	5. The Stand

**Chapter 5. The Stand**

The house surely made better impression from afar than near. Sitting in the back seat of Jasper`s car (after the fire her own car naturally refused to start, so Finn offered to drive it away later), Clarke was looking at a hefty two-storey house, twined with thick as a hand grape vines and ivy with mixed thoughts. Windows were crushed and more or less boarded up, the door was hanging on one hinge, crooked and blackened of rain; the path to the house was hiding in a thicket of wild roses and heather. Apparently, one should really have the guts to risk and come here. Even so, in the crimson light of the evening sun the house appeared to be not a terrifying monster, but something of a completely different world, unusual, but beautiful in its own way.

Clarke realized that she likes this house. This was the house she would have chosen to make her own kingdom, where you can conjure and do whatever you want.

"You like it, huh?" – smiled sitting next to her Finn. "Looks gorgeous, especially at sunset. Although we often have to frighten sneaking couples, we even came up with a couple of creepy legends. "

"Some evil spirits or the deceased owner of the house, which persecutes those who dare to disturb his peaceful rest?"

"Almost," – came Jasper`s voice from the driver's seat. "We decided to have the maniac who loves to skin these lovers alive. Childhood trauma and all that stuff. "

"It seems to me that the real maniac would run away the very moment he saw Bellamy in front of him." - The desire to break Bellamy's neck has faded a bit, but Griffin was far from being serene.

Monty turned to her from the front seat:

"I`d bet on the maniac. Someone has to kick our King`s ass at last. He was nice before. A bit. A little bit. "

Clarke laughed - except enraged Blake the Circle was rather funny. Now she understood why Wells spoke highly about his friends. And now they could become her friends as well.

The car parked right in the garage under the house, generally speaking it could not be named garage at all. She could see the upper storeys and the sky through holes, and one wall almost broke into pieces.

"Princess," - Finn gave her the hand. Clarke could not help but notice Monty and Jasper`s curious glances, but decided to pretend that nothing happened. He's just offered her his hand, that`s all. "Welcome to the Circle."

The walls of the mansion were covered with some unknown symbols from the inside, bone amulets were hanging on the door jamb.

"Wells` job." - Jasper pushed one of amulets with his finger; it made some fun clatter, swaying in the air.

The central room, where the headquarters of the Circle were, was on the second floor. They saw Wells, really concerned, at the top of the stairs.

"What happened?" He asked anxiously. "Bellamy said something about the Book, his failure, and that you were stuck in the car ..."

"She was not stuck in the car." - Finn folded his arms. "He locked her in the car using his magic and set it on fire."

"He did whaaaat?!" - Wells turned round and entered the room, he was going to fight. Definitely.

"I`ll bet on Wells." - whispered Jasper from behind Clarke, exchanging glances with Monty.

"Twenty on Bellamy. You've seen him before when ... "

Clarke could not hear what he was going to say next.

There came a terrible rumble, plaster was falling down the walls and the central beam of the roof above them made loud rattle.

"You're got to be kidding! My lab is there! " – shouted Monty.

The last thing Clarke ever wanted was to die here under the house debris, because of angered teenagers, in the middle of nowhere, so she had to do something immediately.

Stepping over two steps at a time, she entered the central room; there, right under the menacingly swinging chandelier, with a dozen of cracked bulbs, stood two guys, grabbing each other by the collar. They stood in silence, but the silence was even more threatening than if they`d been fighting. The guy with his back to Clarke rose above Wells, he had enviable constitution, sturdy but not bulky. His broad back muscles were distinctly seen under white T-shirt, and he seemed to be able to break Wells neck easily with no effort at all.

"Wells, get the hell away." - Clarke said threateningly, realizing that`s the moment when she convinces herself that she is not afraid of Bellamy Blake, and she can protect herself. She didn`t want Wells`s help, or Finn`s or anyone else. Clarke Griffin used to rely only on herself in her life, and that rule never failed her.

The rumble subsided, chandelier calmed down and stopped clinking, and the boys let go of each other, Wells went down on the heels and stepped back, forcing Bellamy turn around to Clarke.

She haven`t seen Bellamy Blake for a long time.

When he stepped forward, standing close and suppressing with his height, Clarke realized her head could hardly reach his shoulders. Maximum. Dark, almost black eyes burned with barely suppressed rage, his tanned face, all covered with freckles, reddened, and the fingers clenched into fists, whitening.

Clarke could have sworn that the temperature of her body raised instantly as if she was back in the car; bare skin, where it contacted with the air, shivered.

"You set my car on fire! Are you going to explain it? "- She could not draw back now, but did the least she could and crossed arms over her chest to get some distance from overtopping Bellamy.

"If you want to enter the Circle, you must be strong enough to extinguish the fire. It's simple. "- Bellamy shrugged with a poker face, but the vein on the temple throbbing betrayed him.

"So it`s gonna be same simple if I lift you in the air by the hair and drown in the lake, huh? Or strangle in your sleep? "- She looked into his dark and tight eyes, and fury deep inside increased with every second. Bellamy Blake set fire to her car. Bellamy Blake set. Her. Car. On fire. And said it was so simple.

The sound dinned in her ears, and Clarke realized that a strong vibration was around them all the time. The whole house was shaking and creaking; convulsively twitching chandelier was swinging like a huge pendulum above her and Bellamy heads, and deep cracks were running the ceiling.

Magic was emanating from her hands, body, cold as water, it was pouring into the air, harmless yet. On the other hand, standing in front of her Bellamy was like fever. If he reached out and touched her, she would burn like a torch.

Sense of power flooded her, causing tingling in the fingertips, and the air around them thickened. Big wooden debris were falling from the roof, the chandelier was swinging like a seesaw, threatening to crash into the ceiling.

At that moment Clarke realized she could no longer control herself, power overflowed her, as if somebody was trying to pour the whole lake in a small glass. Rage was still reflecting in Bellamy`s eyes, strong and no longer hidden, desperate fury but no longer directed at anyone, just spreading around him like a poisonous spot. His face sharpened, covered with sweat, and the veins on his temples throbbed wildly.

They both could not hear other`s screams because of the noise, and no one dared to approach them as a sea of wild elemental magic danced in the air.

Clarke looked at her hands - thin blue wreaths on the back of hands burst, covering them with bruises - and understood everything.

She unfolded arms and grabbed Bellamy`s wrists firmly, interlacing their fingers. Vibration turned into a monotonous ultrasound, her cold magic mixed with his, burning now as well as the skin on his wrists, swirling around, and suddenly everything was over.

Her ears deafened of dead silence, a chandelier fell from the ceiling and flew away, bumping into the wall, and fell into pieces. Clarke turned her eyes to Bellamy, and for a brief moment she saw something she hoped to see so much. A relief flashed under the ocean of raging emotions. He didn`t have to restrain something he could not restrain. And control things he could not control.

Then it vanished as if it had never been there, and Bellamy stepped back, one tiny step, but that was enough.

"Do not you dare do things like that with me or my car. Ever." – There was no anger or rage or despair in the girl's voice, just a simple statement of fact. "I do not care about your leader`s post, I do not need your throne."

Now she was finally able to unhook her trembling fingers from his hands and looked around. This house certainly survived many fights, but the next one would obviously be the last. A wide crack crept on one of the walls, uprooted chandelier reminded some tree crumpled in a storm, the floor was littered with rubbish and debris, and the guys watching this fight were lying on the floor, as if invisible force knocked them down. Their faces stretched in stun.

"Wow, that was hard," - Finn dropped a piece of wood palm-size from the foot and stood up. "You and Bella ..."

Bellamy remained silent, and Clarke shook her head in warning:

"Finn, don`t. We`re done here. "

Clarke Griffin realized that she was no longer afraid of Bellamy Blake. Somehow their magic neutralized each other, and disappeared without consequences. Well, except for damaged house.

She was afraid of her power. Things could go wrong, without adequate control. She could only hope that Bellamy is afraid too. Of the possibility of losing control.

For a few seconds everybody played «Stand silent» game, and then reacted at once. Monty ran to check his laboratory, it was a miracle that the glass tubes didn't blow up, and grabbed his laptop from the floor. Jasper and Finn dragged the remains of the chandelier. Wells was near the crack in the wall, whispering something, he held his hand over the hole, and it gradually decreased. Clarke looked attentively and saw tiny specks of soil, gathering in some patch and sticking to the crack. Bellamy turned away, picking up the fallen chair that was his personal throne.

"I`m so sorry," - she came to Monty, raising fallen magic spell books from the floor.

"It`s okay," - he waved his hand. "There is nothing that I cannot fix. You should have seen their fights with Finn. About the Book of Shadows.

"Book of Shadows? You don`t have your own Book. "

"We don`t," – Finn came up and bended over the book. "But our parents do. Bellamy wanted to track down the Hunters. I was against it. "

"The fact that you are against it shows the absolute absence of brains in your head, Collins." – came Bellamy`s voice from behind.

"Oh, here it goes again," - Monty whispered loudly and said: "If you are going to repeat your mortal combat, please, spare this house and me. I warn you, I've had enough for today, thanks. "

"And what are you going to do when you find out where the Hunters are?" - Asked Clarke, looking at guys.

Finn shrugged:

"That`s Bellamy`s plan, you should ask him."

Clarke reached for book page, fallen under the dresser in the corner and stopped looking at it. The page was covered with drawings and various symbols, and there was a symbol from her picture. She remembered it mainly because she has carefully redrawn it for three times in the library, searching for a match. There were no matches found. But now it was lying in front of her.

"Em-m-m ..." - she lifted the page up and waved to guys, drawing attention.

"It's Wells`s. He always puts them in the same folder, but forgets to fasten. Therefore, they are scattered all over the room. "- Jasper suddenly put on his goggles, turning into some completely crazy professor from the cartoons. "Now, kids, I highly recommend you to grab your stuff before me and Wells get down to our job. Remember, last time we found sofa in the basement. "

"What are they going to do?" - The girl asked Finn. He took a stack of pages and books and was heading to the stairs, obviously intending to leave everything on the ground floor.

"A little bit of magic. They gonna fix the house, or it`ll collapse one day for sure. Jasper can see the cracks and power streams, and Wells makes patches for such holes. "- He pointed to a thin strip at the wall, Clarke would have never ever believed that there was a big crack a couple of minutes ago at its place. "It sounds a bit bonkers, I know. But that's all we can until we bind the Circle. "

Clarke remembered the huge stream of power, flowing through her body, and looked at Bellamy:

"We have to bind the Circle. Otherwise we all are in danger. "

In about half an hour everything was done. The house didn`t change in general, but at least there was no danger of the roof falling down on their heads now.

Monty hid behind his laptop, explaining something to Jasper. Judging by the volume of his voice, he was doing it for the second time. Bellamy sat lounging in his chair and reading a book, sometimes he threw quick glances on everybody, especially on Clarke, as if not sure –why the hell are they still here. Finn was somewhere on the first floor, and Clarke could hear muffled curses down there. So she made sure that everyone is busy, and sat beside Wells with the picture she draw today and handed it to him:

"Can you have a look? I`m not sure if it means anything, but still... "

"Yes, I`ve seen like these before." - Wells frowned. "But I have to check some books to make sure. And where did you get that? "

"I drew it." – It was not hard to say it. "Well, I do not remember drawing them, I just did it. But please, "- she covered his hand with her own. "Don`t tell anyone about it. Especially my mom. She is worried enough about me now. It can be just some silly scrabbles. Okay? "

She caught a quick glance Bellamy gave her, but he didn`t say anything, all his attention to the book again.

"Of course." - Wells nodded.

Clarke stood up to go and help Finn with cleaning, so she didn`t see anxious look Wells gave her. From what he could remember these symbols were from his father`s Book of Shadows. It was a very bad sign.


	6. The one you trust

Oh, this house hid many surprises.

First of all, Clarke found the kitchen. The entrance was blocked with the wooden planks and bricks, apparently guys found the kitchen something completely useless and didn`t want to deal with it at all.

But in vain. Small and musty kitchenette was all completely shocked up with jars containing different potions. Jars and pots littered the tables and shelves, and they looked like a huge plantation of luminescent fungi. Clarke shivered and promised to come back in the daylight. The idea of a crazy serial killer who collected all sorts of creepy stuff in these jars did not want to get out of her head.

Then Clarke`s foot fell down in the hole to the basement. She was just passing by, and suddenly she heard a crunch of a board under the foot, and her ankle has stuck between floors. She had to call Finn. He was trying to rescue her for more than ten minutes, and by the end of it all she just wanted to fall through the ground literally.

After that she tried to scare him, hiding behind the door, and when he saw her, covered with web, some trash stuck in her hair, he naturally stunned and tried to take a step back, his foot got into a pile of dumped debris, and he fell. After a moment, they both laughed like madmen, pointing each other with dirty fingers and trying to freshen up.

The guys upstairs were doing some experiments, Clarke was just collecting candles scattered on the ground floor hall after her battle with Bellamy and giving them to Finn, when something popped upstairs, then puffs of blue smoke crawled down. Jasper and Monty ran out coughing and hang on the ladder. They were holding Wells, who obviously was not well. Gloomy and pale as chalk Bellamy was following them, he gave her and Finn an insensible glance, and then threw him his phone:

"Kane called. He said something about he drove into the bar and it was closed, so he was wondering why ... "

"Oh shit!" - Finn grabbed his head, put the package with the candles they were collecting on the table and rushed to Wells:

"Listen, can take your car? Kane will tear my head off because I closed the bar without telling him. Also I can bring Clarke`s car home.

He said good-bye to his friends and clapped their shoulders and finally hugged Clarke. That caused slight confusion among them all, including the very Clarke:

"Bye, Princess. See you in the morning

"Uh-uh, see you." - A little but stunned Clarke watched him disappearing in the doorway.

"Wells, dude, how are you?" - Jasper slapped his cheeks. "He stood too close to the explosion."

"And he will definitely thank you for it tomorrow."

"Oh, shut up, Bellamy, don`t you see, he looks so bad."

"You should take him to hospital and show to my mother. It will help. For sure. "- Clarke walked over and checked the Wells`s temperature and pulse on his wrist with very customary movements. "What? I know a little about poisons, but he clearly needs to get to hospital. "

"Right," - Jasper nodded. "Are you coming with us? We will quickly drop him there, and then go back home. "

Clarke looked aside. Hospital. She hated hospitals since her sister died, and each time, getting there, even for a friend visit, could not help but panic.

"I ... I don`t think ..." - she suddenly remembered that her car was still standing in the parking lot at the pier, far away.

"I'll take her home." - Said Bellamy. "Get him out of sight until his vomits and faints."

"Okay, then, hold on tight, Monty, or we all fall down."

Clarke led them to the jeep, helped to take Wells to the back seat, and left a wet handkerchief on his forehead, then looked at Bellamy.

He locked the house and handed her a picture with symbols:

"Do not forget the stuff you don`t want to show to the others, Princess."

"You know ..." - she folded the drawing and tucked in the pocket. "You don`t have to give me a lift. You don`t have to help me." - Clarke stared at the guy. Today he set fire to her car, arranged a small local scale apocalypse, and now he wanted to give her a lift.

"Yes. I don`t." - He put on his helmet and lowered the visor.

So Clarke came to him, sat behind and grabbed his waist, cuddling close. He didn`t give her a helmet. Apparently usually Bellamy rode alone. That was so typical of him, she thought.

Evening road was deserted, and Bellamy drove at full speed, moving in smoothly to every turn. They rode slowly at first, but when he realized that the girl behind him is not screaming in terror, he started increasing the speed, when Clarke stood up a little, her mouth to his ear:

"Faster."

He turned the head and met her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm and passion and smiled:

"Hold on tight."

They were driving up to her street, Clarke pressed her face against his shoulder and was watching her hair flutter in the wind like golden flag; the strands of hair scattered over her face at every turn, blown forward they tickled Bellamy`s neck where it was not covered by T-shirt collar . She was staring at the goose bumps covering his skin, and the sense of lightness and fun seethed inside her, bursting with bubbles in the chest.

It was his way of saying "sorry" and she took it.

Next morning Clarke woke with a knock at the window. She put on a robe, opened the curtains, meeting eyes with Finn, who entertained himself by levitating small pebbles and forcing them to strike the glass.

"Hi, neighbor." - He smiled brightly. How could he be that fresh and shiny in the morning and look perfect? Clarke glanced at his bare tanned torso, worthy of a fitness trainer, and refused to think about it. At all.

She could only hope that he doesn`t see her looks and try not to blush in embarrassment.

"Are you always that happy in the morning?" - She asked, rubbing neck numb after sleep.

"Only when I meet such a beautiful girl. By the way, I brought your car, and it works again. Nothing I cannot fix really. By the way, how did you get home? "

"That was a fast drive. Monty and Jasper took Wells to hospital, and Bellamy gave me a lift. "

"Bellamy? Are you kidding?! "- surprised Finn almost fell out of the window. "It`s a worth cup of coffee talk."

"And what is wrong with Bella ... Wait!" - Clarke broke off. "You invite me for a coffee?"

"Yes."

"Is that a date?"

"Yeah." - Finn nodded. "And I want your phone number to send foolish sms until we agree on the place and time."

"Let me think... Oh shit, lessons! What am I doing here?! "- she watched at the clock, then ran to the bathroom to brush teeth and have a quick shower. Apparently, she still had time, but no breakfast, if she wanted not to be late for classes.

Finn was nowhere seen in his room. Quickly dressed, Clarke went to the first floor, grabbed some cookies and an apple in the kitchen and kissed her mother`s cheek:

"Good morning, Mom. Late for the first lesson. Sorry, don`t have time for breakfast. I'll call you during the break to chat about Wells, OK? "- She picked up her bag with books and ran outside, slamming the door.

Finn was standing in front of her house, leaning on car`s hood, thank God, he was dressed. He was playing with the key in his fingers:

"As good as new." - He smiled. "I`ll give you a chance to enjoy my company on the way to college, but in fact I have a devious plan of getting your number." - He raised keys higher, forcing Clarke to jump to get them.

It's not fair. You are too high. "- She laughed and started to tickle him, trying to lower his arm.

They heard the hum of the engine and saw Bellamy on his motorcycle riding to her house.

Clarke paused, confused:

"Hey." - she grabbed the keys from Finn`s hand using the only chance. "What are you doing here?"

"Wanted to make sure you get to classes in time."

"A-ah, well, it`s ok. Finn fixed my car. We're going in a minute or two. "

"Excellent." - He said glumly, started the engine and drove away without even saying goodbye.

"What's his problem? - Clarke watched him go, and then went to the driver's seat.

"Maybe it's because he`s there and I`m here." - Finn shrugged.

"That`s nonsense." - Yesterday he left in silence too. Overexcited with the race at the empty streets, she didn`t want to talk. He was silent all the time too. But Bellamy`s visit in the morning - that was something out of ordinary. Clarke frowned, shooing off strange thoughts: "Now, show the way, or we're late."

"Do you know what it is, Wells?" - His father stood over his motionless body, enveloped with tubes. That was Thelonious Jaha, the leader of the Circle and the mayor of Ark.

Wells frowned and looked at a copy of Clarke`s picture, that was in his pocket. He had taken it before he got into a cloud of blue shit and then in the intensive care unit.

"No idea, Dad."

"And I think, you know. Otherwise, it wouldn`t be in your pocket. Where did you get it? "

"I didn`t ..." - Wells coughed.

"These symbols are from our Book of Shadows, so I can suppose you took it. And sketched out. Have you lost your brains to think you can do the ritual on your own? I told you, the Circle shall take care of everything. We can handle it. We wanted you to bind your Circle so to learn to control the power and stop doing all sorts of ... "- Thelonious Jaha paused, trying to find proper word.-" stupidity. "

So the symbols were connected with some sort of ritual. Wells frowned. They took his phone ... He had to tell Clarke about everything. His father said that the ritual was dangerous, he didn`t lie. According to the hidden panic in his voice this ritual was something hideous.

"You disappointed me, son." - Jaha left the room and stood at a glass window. Wells saw him talking to Abigail Griffin and showing the copy of Clarke`s picture. The woman turned pale and grabbed his father`s hand trying not to fall down. Then she looked at Wells through the glass.

"Damn, I screwed everything up," - the guy whispered and closed eyes. "I`ll kill Monty and Jasper."

Before Clarke kills him.

Clarke returned home and found her mother sitting in the kitchen. Her packed bags stood next to the chair.

"What happened?" - She threw keys on the table and walked in.

"You must leave. Now. I already arranged everything with Millers; you shall stay with them in Albany. "

"No. I'm not leaving. I'm not going anywhere; I thought the conversation was over. "

"It`s not we but you who thought it was over. But now it's not important, you have to leave. "

"Because of the Hunters? Mom, they don`t even know where we all live, they do not know where Ark is. They can ride along and across the entrance to the city, but won`t get here, and I can protect myself. I am not Ellie. "

Abby heard the name of her dead daughter and turned pale and pursued her lips:

"Clarke, it's yours?" She passed a piece of paper with a tangled tree and a strange talisman in the center. "Can you explain this? Where did you get this? "

"Explain how, Mom, what are you talking about?" - Clarke came closer. "Did Wells give it to you?"

"Clarke, you do not understand, that thing" - and she pointed to the symbols, "Is not something you should have. You are in danger because of it, do you understand? "

"No, I do not understand and I refuse to understand." - Clarke shouted. "I won`t go anywhere, because here I belongs and belonged all the time, I was running from the danger you never told me about, and you don`t want to tell about it even now. Dad would have told me! «- Clarke turned round and ran out of the house, shaking with suppressed tears.

After her husband's funeral Abby refused to speak with her daughter about Hunters and anything about it, and now Clarke didn`t know what to do.

Dad died, and she could not ask him, she didn`t know what to do with lost time while drawing, with the Hunters who were somewhere nearby, and even Wells betrayed her. She no longer had someone to trust.

She wiped tears and walked down the path in the park, now she wanted to hide into the thicket, and cry like a child, while nobody sees.

She climbed the hill and sat on a large stone, watching the city, until she heard the steps next to her:

"Hey, are you all right?" - It was Finn. Of course, it was Finn. He always seemed to show up when she needed help.

"Is it ok, if I say no?" - Clarke sighed and buried her face in hands, "Why is everyone so eager to save me, or get rid of? How did you find me, was spying? "

"Well, when I see a beautiful girl burst into tears running in the woods, I can`t believe that everything is ok, so I went after you. What happened?"

"My mother. She found my picture. Technically, it was a copy of the drawing. I`ve got the original. And now she worries because of it. "

"Did you draw some freaks from a Rorschach test?" - Finn squinted.

"No," - Clarke could not help but smile, "I'm not crazy." - She sighed. "I drew a tree. And a talisman covered with symbols in the center. I gave it to Wells, he promised to check, maybe it means something. "

"Why did not you tell us? We could help. We are not that stupid you know. "- Finn sat near her on the stone.

"You know, I didn`t think about it. I know you just a couple of days. And you burned my car. "

"Well, I fixed it. I think I know what we gonna do, "- Finn slapped his knees. "Now I make a very sad girl laugh, and then we'll go to the house and look this symbol in the books, there has to be something useful. And if that doesn`t work, I can always come back to Wells and give him a couple of bruises. Right? "

"And how are you going to make a sad girl laugh?" - Clarke has calmed down a bit and looked at him warmly.

"I have an idea." - The guy got up and squatted in front of her, then took her hands in his and squeezed. "Now close your eyes."

"No." - she looked up at him.

"Come on, I don`t bite."

She couldn`t believe that she was going to do it, but closed her eyes obediently and sat straight, feeling the heat of Finn`s hands.

"Now think about the water." - His voice was low. "Think of the water."

"Water? What water? "- Clarke opened her eyes and gasped. Large drops of the night dew froze around them in the air. They gathered in little balls and gleamed like thousands of diamonds, generously thrown all around. Drops glided up in the air and disappeared in the sky.

"It's so ..." - she did not know how to find the words. "So magical." - She wanted to touch water drops, but was afraid to break the touch with Finn. It was his and her magic together.

"Clarke, I ..." - he looked at her as if he wanted to kiss her.

Clarke froze, looking into his eyes.

Suddenly a loud call came from his jacket, girl flinched with thoughts mingled, and all the drops rained down.

"Yes? What`s wrong? "- Finn said irritated. "Yes, we are nearby. I`m with Clarke. What? We`ll be soon. Yes. Bye. "

"I'm sorry." - Clarke smiled, watching Finn shakes his hair, like a big dog soaked through and through. Surely she was no better. Like a cat, drown in the lake, and she laughed aloud, imagining it.

"We both lacked concentration, but we can practice more. Come on. Bellamy calls us. Something happened."

"I think I'm getting used to the fact that something happens all the time." - Clarke shook her head and stood up, putting her hand into his. "Definitely."

"I heard night swimming is good for health." - Bellamy looked at Finn, and then shut up when he saw Clarke. She stood in big Finn`s jacket on her shoulders, with wet hair, like a stray child.

"So what happened?" - She asked, blowing off a wet strand of hair from the eye.

"Jasper called, he will be here in five minutes." - Bellamy scanned her again from head to toe with his impenetrable gaze and disappeared into the house.

He was doing it again, she thought. With one glance he managed to knock the ground from under her feet.

Jasper came in six minutes. He rushed into the house, gasping and wheezing, stood in front of friends and grabbed the door jamb to keep from falling, "I am ... Here ... Murder ..."

They sat him on the sofa and let him get his breath.

"I eavesdropped ... Well, you know that my father is Ark`s sheriff, and I deliberately modified his walkie-talkie to eavesdrop if something happens. Shorter. From what I heard today there was another car crash not far from Ark, ten miles or so. Burned to the ground. Father called Jaha. Said that it was a witch from another coven, Hunters tracked her. And he also said the witch could show the entrance to Ark. So my father, Jaha and Kane have already left there. That`s all. "

"Then we all know what to do. And quickly. "- Monty looked at friends. "We have to bind the Circle."

"There is a little problem, you`ve forgotten." -Bellamy crossed his arms over the chest. "Wells".


End file.
